SUICIDALS

The "Perfect" Nightingale

The sun rose high, shining through the curtains of a dimly lit pink room. The rays of the sunrise caresses the skin of a golden haired lady still in slumber. This was a new day, the beginning of a Monday morning.

The alarm clock struck at 6:30 am, blaring loudly and alerting the sleeping blonde. She lifted up her hand and pressed the clock to stop its ringing. A groan passed the girl's lips as she sat up and stretched her limbs. She lazily got herself out of bed and tread into the bathroom. After getting done with her business, she got dressed and headed to the kitchen where one of the housekeepers was cooking breakfast.

"Good morning, Miss Nightingale," said the housekeeper and bowed respectfully to her boss' daughter. The girl–Tina Nightingale–flashed her a soft smile before taking her seat on the dinner table. The food was displayed in front of her, and she began eating breakfast.

"Your father wanted to tell you good luck on your exam," the housekeeper continued. Tina's hand froze mid-air, right before she could take another bite of her food. After a short pause, Tina gave a tiny nod. She continued eating, but her expression looked a bit glum.

"...Thank you for telling me."

Tina's father was a busy man. An owner of a very successful business in New York. He always left for work before Tina could even wake up from her dreamless sleep. She rarely even saw him in the Nightingale household.

Another voice pierced through the air, much more high pitched than the housekeeper's and definitely not comforting. Tina winced, recognizing who it was. "Tina, baby, did you study well?"

Turning around to face the owner of the voice, Tina nodded. "Of course, mother," she replied in a monotonous voice.

"Good," was her mother's only response before turning her heel and walking to her bedroom. It was a sign that Tina was dismissed, not even a 'goodbye' or a 'good luck', like a, well, like a mother should have. The bedroom door was shut with a quiet slam.

The girl sighed, already used to this, to her mother asking if she studied, to keep her reputation. She faced the housekeeper with her usual sparkless eyes. The lady, who already took the blonde's dishes and put them in the sink, looked at her with sympathy. Tina yanked her school bag from the other chair, that was beside her, and marched to the door yanking it open after putting on her shiny, pitch black shoes.

She left, leaving the housekeeper, one of the only people she truly trusted, to take care of her dishes.

-

Exams, quizzes, sure she passed all of them with very minimal to no mistakes, but that didn't mean her head didn't hurt from all of the questions. That was why Tina was grumbling to herself about the exam, even though she was kind of sure that she would pass, anyway.

The outline of the school building became more and more visible the more she walked. Then at last, she arrived, the sight of faded, light blue doors made her wince and prepare herself for another day.

The blonde placed a fake smile on her lips and strutted confidently in the school halls, her hair bouncing behind her with each step, seemingly glowing under the school lights like it was magic. Eyes followed her wherever she went, it was getting frustratingly annoying for her, honestly.

But who wouldn't? Beautiful was an understatement for describing her, and she was also very smart, the perfect girlfriend, they viewed her to be. But she didn't want that, for them to see only her successes. Tina wanted them to see her cracks, as well, her mistakes, the things that made her human instead of a robot that would automatically do what adults say. But she knew they wouldn't, maybe wouldn't even try to.

Tina entered the class with grace, like she always did each day, and was greeted by multiple smiles from her classmates, most of them she didn't even know their names. She grinned cheerfully at them and greeted them a good morning. She wished them good luck on the exam and took her seat, right in the middle of the front row. The bell rang loudly, announcing that class had started.

A bead of sweat dripped down one of the student's forehead and onto the table. A pen was being tapped on the desk, and multiple groans of frustration and exhaustion echoed in the classroom. All except Tina were struggling, for the latter already submitted her work sheet early, as usual, going up to the teacher's table and handing her exam sheet. The teacher smiled, already knowing Tina would submit first, yet was still surprised and proud of her. Tina walked back to her desk and had to hold back on slamming her head on the table. Eyes we're still on her, their gazes making her skin crawl. Some of the students envy Tina's smart mind, others admire it.

Class ended and the students groaned, complaining that they weren't able to answer some of the questions, some didn't even make it halfway. That disappointment was soon short-lived. Because as soon as they finally got out of the room, a loud cheering ensued as the exam was over at last. Then, they all rushed to the cafeteria, the exam making them have a huge appetite.

A person remained in that room. His dark eyes looked out the window and he placed his chin on his palm as he prop his elbow on the table. He was the only one that had very little questions answered. He already knew he was bound to fail, and might repeat 11th grade again.

 
-

Tina walked in the halls, her eyes straight ahead. The urge to ditch the cafeteria almost overtook her mind, but decided against it, letting her body move automatically.

She reached the cafeteria and after getting her tray of food, she sat on one of the seats, right in the far left corner. A headache slowly formed after that long exam, but she ignored it. Tina placed her tray in front of her. She picked up her fork and began to play with her food, pushing the beans back and forth gently. She had no appetite, anyway.

Sandy blond hair appeared in the corner of her eye. She glanced to her right and saw no other than Micah, the infamous school loner, in the very corner of the cafeteria, alone, with his gloomy and mysterious aura as usual.

Shockingly, Tina was jealous of Micah. Everyone looked at him with disgust and hatred, something Tina envied. She was tired of all the things she had to do to keep up her reputation as the 'perfect, rich girl' or something like that.

But she was also somewhat similar to Micah. Despite her being 'popular' and 'pretty', and all of the good stuff, she never had any real friends, friends that she could talk to about their day, her day, anything instead of just greeting random people.

She gave Micah one final look before turning back to stare at her food once more. Tina glared at the meal in front of her as if it had personally offended her. At last she stood up, tray in hand, walked to the trash bin and threw it out.

Tina didn't think so much about it as the food hit the bottom of the bin with a wet 'plat!'. And it was the first time eyes weren't directed right at her. She was a bit glad that no one saw or, if they did, pointed out her actions. The blonde walked out of the cafeteria like nothing happened, not noticing curious, green eyes following her silhouette out the blue metal doors.

   
-

School ended with the same red bell ringing so loudly, almost deafening the students whose heads were spiraling from all the school work. One of those students was Tina, who couldn't take one more math question. Again, just because she was smart, didn't mean she didn't struggle like the other students do.

After taking down the last few words of the notes on the board, Tina immediately tossed her notebook in the bag and strutted out of the hellhole of a classroom, waving goodbye to her fellow classmates.

Through the halls and out the school building, Tina dragged her feet. She thought about how she would go home, eat dinner, have very little to no communication with her parents, sleep, and wake up the next morning to repeat the cycle again. And again. And again.

This was a weird request, but she wanted to be like a hangman.